


I don't want to live (without you)

by jdphoenix



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Episode: s01e06 FZZT, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 18:30:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6295093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jdphoenix/pseuds/jdphoenix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a reason everybody told Steve to take his people anywhere <i>but</i> Morocco after their last mission.</p>
<p>This isn't it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I don't want to live (without you)

**Author's Note:**

> SafelyCapricious requested Brock/Jemma and "tomorrow" for a five minute fic. This took considerably longer than that.
> 
> Title from for king & country's "without you."

“Holy shit, is that-?”

“Oh my God, I think it is.”

Steve closes his eyes and holds back a sigh as he waits for the elevator. The hushed voices are something he gets a lot out in the world, but most SHIELD personnel are either inured to his presence or good enough at their jobs to pretend they’re not freaking out on the inside. He just hopes these two don’t come over; there’s a reason everybody said to go _anywhere_ but Morocco for the debrief after yesterday’s mission, Steve just wishes he’d known what it was _before_. He is ready to get the hell out of here, just as soon as he picks up Rumlow from medical.

“Fuck,” one of the men says. “That really is. That’s the _Cavalry_.”

Steve blinks, a little shell-shocked that there’s someone around who’s more awe-inspiring than him (not that he’s complaining) and takes a look for himself.

The two agents are slack-jawed and staring as a woman marches past, clearly on the warpath. She heads straight for Steve and he’s got a half-second to be worried she’s coming to say hi before she detours and hits the same elevator button he did thirty seconds ago.

“Captain,” she says, settling into parade rest beside him.

Well, she did start it. “Cavalry,” he says and for the first time in a long time genuinely fears for his life because men do _not_ receive looks like that and live.

“Don’t ever call me that.”

The doors open and it’s the longest ride of Steve’s _life_ before they’re both stepping off on floor three. He breathes a little easier when she heads in the opposite direction of the one he wants, which is kind of funny, honestly. He’s fought beside _Thor_ and the _Hulk_ and this woman who’s a head shorter than him is giving him a panic attack just by _staring_.

Rumlow’s already out of bed - probably against doctor’s orders - and Nat’s with him, leaning against his doorjamb and out of the way of traffic. Steve’s plan to ask if either of them know who the hell the Cavalry is and why she’s so impossibly terrifying slips away when he sees just how _much_ traffic there is.

“What’s going on around here?” he asks.

“Dunno,” Nat says, looking more like a teenager than a SHIELD agent with the way she’s following the chaos. All she needs is her cell phone out and she’ll be like those lookie-loos in Paris last month.

“Oh!” a lab tech appears behind Rumlow, grinning nearly from ear to ear. “You haven’t heard? It’s the Chitauri.”

Steve’s blood goes cold and Nat is suddenly 100% SHIELD again.

The tech has the sense to realize his enthusiasm is _not_ appreciated. “I mean-” he gulps- “a team in Pennsylvania recently encountered a virus they left behind. It took out three firefighters before they realized what was causing it and one of the agents had to be quarantined mid-flight to the Sandbox.”

“Chitauri,” Rumlow growls, shifting his weight to take some of it off his left side.

“The gift that keeps on giving,” Steve mutters. “Is the agent okay?”

“I suppose so? She had to be ejected mid-flight or the virus’s final stage would have taken out the plane - that’s what they’re saying anyway. A team went out early this morning to fish her out of the water. Brought her in less than an hour ago.”

“Any idea who it was?” Nat asks, her voice carefully detached.

“Oh, yes.” Now the guy’s sounding excited again and Steve’s jaw isn’t the only one that twitches. An agent nearly _died_. “One of FitzSimmons - the woman, though I can never keep straight-”

Rumlow’s gone. Just like that, he’s pushed through the doorway, into the mess of people rushing through the halls and Nat’s cursing and Steve’s running after the both of them because _what the hell_.

With the chaos, he doesn’t catch up for three more corridors and he’s pretty sure he’s nearing the center of it all from the way people are hanging around to just _stare_. Of course that could also be up to the Cavalry looking about ready to fight Rumlow in the middle of the hall.

“ _No_ ,” she says in a clear tone of warning.

Rumlow’s barely even looking at her; his attention’s on the heavy quarantine door behind her.

“Hey, Melinda,” Nat says.

“Natasha,” the Cavalry says. It almost sounds pleasant.

“All right,” Steve says because this situation looks like it needs a cool head, “let’s everybody just calm down.”

“I’m perfectly calm. It’s Rumlow here who has a problem.”

Rumlow’s jaw tightens and he tears his eyes from the door to focus on the woman blocking it. “I just wanna see her.”

“Not happening. Even if she wasn’t under quarantine.”

For a second, Steve’s genuinely worried Rumlow’s gonna lunge at her, but he only steps back to run a hand down his face, his hollow eyes fixed on the door again. “Is she okay? They said she got thrown out-”

“She’s _fine_. Ward got to her in time. He caught her.”

“Okay. Okay.” Rumlow looks old all of a sudden and when he walks away (thank _God_ ) he really looks like he can feel his injuries.

Steve turns to Nat. “What.”

She shrugs. “Rumlow and Simmons had this-” she waves her hand- “thing. She’s half his age and I guess it ended badly. Shocker. Obviously he’s still not over her.” She looks to the Cavalry (there is no way Steve can think of her as _Melinda_ ). “Is she really okay?”

The woman nods and some of the tension goes out of her spine. She looks visibly relieved. “Yes. They say these tests are mostly precautionary - and to make sure Ward’s not sick now too. They’ll be released tomorrow.”

“Good. I still haven’t had the chance to personally kick Ward’s ass, I’d hate for him to die with people still saying he’s better than me.”

“The best _since_ you. It’s not the same thing.”

Nat scoffs and somehow the two women don’t leave the hallway or even the area in front of the quarantine door, but they do leave Steve alone. He’s kind of relieved, really, means he doesn’t have to excuse himself from what’s obviously a friendly chat.

He heads back to Rumlow’s room and, sure enough, the guy’s back in bed. Or on it. He’s only sitting on the edge but that’s close enough for a guy who thinks “doctor” is a bad word.

It’s eerie, seeing him like this. Rumlow’s one of the best and Steve thinks of him as a young guy but … he’s really not - and it’s showing.

“She’s _fine_ ,” Steve says. “They say she’ll be released in twenty-four hours.”

“Yeah.” Rumlow takes in a deep breath and feels at his gunshot wound. He’s the kind of guy who’s sure to get himself killed one day because he refuses to acknowledge his hurts and who likes to pass the time on long flights by ribbing the others about the girls they left behind, so what Steve’s seeing now would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.

“Change of plans,” Steve says, all business. “All this Chitauri nonsense has the base’s airfield clogged up. We’re not leaving until tomorrow. So you’re just gonna have to put up with being looked after.”

Rumlow perks up, but Steve’s not about to give him the chance to say anything. The old bastard gets one in anyway, just as Steve’s headed out the door. “You’re making an enemy out of the Cavalry, Rogers, I hope you know that.”

Steve shrugs one shoulder. “Eh. She doesn’t seem so tough.”

The laugh that follows him into the hall chills Steve’s blood all over again. He really hopes that woman never traces this back to him.

 


End file.
